Integrated circuits (ICs) are the cornerstone of the information age and the foundation of today's information technology industries. The integrated circuit, a.k.a. “chip” or “microchip,” is a set of interconnected electronic components, such as transistors, capacitors, and resistors, which are etched or imprinted onto a semiconducting material, such as silicon or germanium. Integrated circuits take on various forms including, as some non-limiting examples, microprocessors, amplifiers, Flash memories, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), static random access memories (SRAMs), digital signal processors (DSPs), dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), erasable programmable read only memories (EPROMs), and programmable logic. Integrated circuits are used in innumerable products, including computers (e.g., personal, laptop and tablet computers), smartphones, flat-screen televisions, medical instruments, telecommunication and networking equipment, airplanes, watercraft and automobiles.
Advances in integrated circuit technology and microchip manufacturing have led to a steady decrease in chip size and an increase in circuit density and circuit performance. The scale of semiconductor integration has advanced to the point where a single semiconductor chip can hold tens of millions to over a billion devices in a space smaller than a U.S. penny. Moreover, the width of each conducting line in a modern microchip can be made as small as a fraction of a nanometer. The operating speed and overall performance of a semiconductor chip (e.g., clock speed and signal net switching speeds) has concomitantly increased with the level of integration. To keep pace with increases in on-chip circuit switching frequency and circuit density, semiconductor packages currently offer higher pin counts, greater power dissipation, more protection, and higher speeds than packages of just a few years ago.
The advances in integrated circuits have led to related advances within other fields. One such field is sensors. Advances in integrated circuits have allowed sensors to become smaller and more efficient, while simultaneously becoming more capable of performing complex operations. Other advances in the field of sensors and circuitry in general have led to wearable circuitry, a.k.a. “wearable devices” or “wearable systems.” Within the medical field, as an example, wearable devices have given rise to new methods of acquiring, analyzing, and diagnosing medical issues with patients, by having the patient wear a sensor that monitors specific characteristics. Related to the medical field, other wearable devices have been created within the sports and recreational fields for the purpose of monitoring physical activity and fitness. For example, a user may don a wearable device, such as a wearable running coach, to measure the distance traveled during an activity (e.g., running, walking, etc.), and measure the kinematics of the user's motion during the activity.
However, current wearable devices rely on a user to select whether the device is coupled to or decoupled from the body (e.g., determine on-body status) and to select the location and/or orientation of the device on the body. Current wearable devices also rely on a user to enter such location and/or orientation information into the device and/or a system associated with reading and processing the information provided by the wearable device (e.g., mobile device associated with the wearable device). This on-body status, location, and orientation information is useful for the device (or system) to configure its operation appropriately. Alternatively, current wearable devices are limited to deriving generic metrics that are not location and/or orientation dependent. These shortcomings of current wearable devices introduce burdens on the user and a possibility for making mistakes, such as incorrectly placing and/or orientating the wearable device or incorrectly entering the location and/or orientation of the wearable device. These shortcomings prevent a seamless experience of using a wearable device and limit the functionality.